NASIG Newsletter

[Ed. note: Highlights from the January committee report to the Executive Board.]

DATABASE & DIRECTORY
Lisa Blackwell, Chair

MEMBERSHIP
• 930 current members (down 189 (-17%) from 2007)

• 95 new members in 2007 (not yet renewed for 200
• 380 renewed members in 2007 (not yet renewed for 200
• 32 new members for 2008
• 27 pending new member applications
• 408 renewed members for 2008
• 7 complimentary or gratis members
• 1 corresponding member

[Ed. note: Highlights from the fall committee report to the Executive Board.]

DATABASE & DIRECTORY
Lisa Blackwell, Chair

A revised printable membership Directory for 2007 has been posted on the Web.

MEMBERSHIP
904 current members:

• 113 new members in 2007 (not yet renewed for 2008).
• 759 renewed members in 2007 (not yet renewed for 2008).
• 25 new members for 2008.
• 8 renewed members for 2008.
• 3 complimentary or gratis members.

DATABASE & DIRECTORY COMMITTEE
Buddy Pennington and Lisa Blackwell, Co-chairs

Committee members:  Alice Bright, Heather Cannon, Ann Ercelawn, Marty Gordon, Smita Joshipura, Julie Kane, Greg Matthews, Bob Persing, Mircea Stefancu
Board liaison: Adam Chesler

Members rotating off the committee after the annual conference: Smita Joshipura, Buddy Pennington, Mircea Stefancu

New Chair: Lisa Blackwell
New co-Chair: Marty Gordon
New Committee Members: Cecilia Genereux, Tzu Jing Kao, Suzanne Thomas
New Board liaison: Jeff Slagell

ACTIVITIES
• NASIG transitioned from a paper-based renewal system to an online-only renewal system for the 2006 renewal cycle.   A contract was negotiated with Paul Seeman to make programmatic updates to both the public and committee renewal pages.  Major updates included:

o Adding in a component to allow NASIG members to make donations.
o Adding an email manager component to allow the committee to edit the automated emails that are sent out to activated and renewed members.  Previously members had to manually send emails to members.
o A new “view blank membership” line was added so that the committee could more easily delete the blank membership records. These tend to be created when someone repeatedly clicks on the submit button on the online forms.
o Streamlining the renewal process so that a member can be renewed with a single click.  Previously, committee members had to manually edit a number of fields in the record and submit the changes to renew the member.
o Streamlining the activation process so that a member can be activated with a single click.  Previously, committee members had to manually edit a number of fields in the record and submit the changes to renew the member.

• The open of the renewal season was announced on November 15, 2007 and repeated throughout the winter.  The renewals lagged behind previous year’s figures.  Below are some thoughts on why this might have occurred:

o Late announcement.  The committee should work on opening the renewals in mid-September to give members plenty of time to renew before the ballots are sent out.
o Members may not be reading their email or the email may be blocked or treated as spam.
o Perceptions that online renewals meant members had to pay online.  Some members voiced a concern about paying online.
o The announcement did not include membership numbers and some members may have had problems getting their number or didn’t want to deal with it if they did not have it in-hand.

• Board set voting renewal deadline to 1/26/2007 5 p.m. EST.  Mailing label data was collected for 625 eligible members and sent to the Nominations & Elections Committee.

• In March, non-renewed members were deactivated.  The inactive and active email lists were sent to ECC to update the NASIG-L email roster.

• The committee continued to run monthly new member reports and announce the new members on NASIG-L.  The committee began to send contact information for individuals who had applied for NASIG membership but who were not activated to the Membership Development Committee so that they could follow-up with those individuals.

• Janet Chisman resigned her position on the committee and was replaced by Greg Matthews, Serials and Electronic Resources Cataloger at Washington State University.

• The committee website was revised and given a new look.  Several procedures have been revised and the committee plans to continue that process of revising procedures to streamline steps and ensure accurate and timely processing of membership information.

RENEWALS
Online renewals first announced on NASIG-L: November 15, 2007.

Active members for current year (as of April 19, 2007): 781 active members.
Active members for previous year (from previous annual report): 1,038 members.

323 2006 members were deactivated on March 21, 2007.

MEMBERSHIP PROFILE
Active NASIG members in database: 781 (as of April 19, 2007)

Membership by library/organization type:

EXPENSES
The committee requested $3,000 to cover programming work contracted to Paul Seeman.  The work involved making improvements to the online renewal form, including adding in a new form to allow NASIG members to make donations, as well as improvements to the web admin tools used by the committee.

The committee also requested $50 to cover potential printing of renewal forms for members by request.  The committee did not use any of this money as no forms were requested.  NASIG members could easily print out the renewal form themselves.

ANNUAL DIRECTORY
While the printed Directory was discontinued after the 2004/2005 year, the NASIG Board has made the decision to maintain a PDF version of the Directory and make that PDF version available for download to current NASIG members.

The latest PDF version was updated January 4, 2005.  The committee is planning on providing an updated PDF version in time for the 2007 conference in Louisville.

OTHER ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• Committee considerations for contract work with Paul Seeman:

o Add an admin component to update the activation and renewal features.  This is especially critical for the membership type field.  Currently, the automated features use n07 and r07.  Those will need to be changed after July 1.
o Add a “renewed date” field to the membership database and have the date automatically entered when the committee renews a member.  This will help in providing statistical reports to the board.
o Remove unused fields from the Admin Tool and provide formatting and validation (such as phone numbers, etc.)
o Add pulldown menus to ensure consistent entry (country, state, ILS, etc.)

• Should the committee and NASIG Board consider letting members make updates to their membership profiles themselves?  A considerable amount of time was used making updates that members could easily update themselves using an online form.  If this were to occur, some mechanism would have to be developed to ensure that:

o Email changes were forwarded to ECC to update NASIG-L.
o Title changes were forwarded to the Newsletter editor.
o A minimum level of formatting and validation is used.

[Ed. note: Excerpted from the January committee report to the Executive Board]

DATABASE & DIRECTORY COMMITTEE
Buddy Pennington, Chair 

ACTIVITIES FOR 2006/2007

2007 Renewals
The renewal season was publicly announced on NASIG-L on November 15^th.  The announcement indicated that the goldenrod forms would not be mailed out and provided complete instructions on how to renew online.     

The renewals for 2007 have lagged behind the renewals for 2006.  The committee has come up with the following items that may explain the lower turnout compared to 2006: 

• The lateness of announcing on NASIG-L.  Traditionally, the goldenrod forms were mailed out in mid- September.  It is hoped that if the NASIG-L announcements are made around that time in 2007, more members will renew in time to be eligible for voting. 
• Announcing by NASIG-L list.  There is some speculation that a number of folks were not reading their emails.
• We received a few indications that members were not comfortable paying online, leading us to believe that many were assuming that renewing online meant paying online. We need to make more explicit that members can pay by check and do not need to pay online.
• The instructions may have made the process seem more complicated than it was.  

Ideas for next year include the following: 

·         Promote membership renewals throughout the year, not simply during the fall.
·         Prominently display renewal reminders on NASIG page and conference page.
·         Offer a discount to those who renew by a certain date.
·         Ask for feedback via NASIG-L and/or the annual conference of the process and how to make it easier. 

MEMBERSHIP

·         1119 current members:

o        135 new members in 2006 (not yet renewed for 2007).
o        415 renewed members in 2006 (not yet renewed for 2007).
o        43 new members for 2007.
o        516 renewed members for 2007.
o        7 complimentary or gratis members.
o        1 corresponding member. 

2007 RENEWALS TO GO ONLINE
Buddy Pennington, Database & Directory Committee Chair 

Those goldenrod renewal forms?  A thing of the past. 

The NASIG Database & Directory Committee is implementing online renewals for the 2007 renewal cycle and will not be sending out print forms in the mail.  This change, approved by the NASIG Board this spring, is being put into action this year.  Not only will it save NASIG money by reducing printing and postage costs, but the online environment makes it much easier for the NASIG Treasurer and the committee to process the renewals in much less time than it took with the paper forms.  

But wait, there’s more.  This year, NASIG is providing renewing members with the opportunity to make a personal donation to make the best organization devoted to “all members of the serials information chain” even better.  The committee has been working to integrate this new online donation opportunity into the renewal process for the 2007 cycle.  When implemented, NASIG members will see a separate online donation form when they renew their membership online and be able to make a contribution to strengthen the support and services provided by NASIG to its members.

DATABASE & DIRECTORY COMMITTEE

Buddy Pennington, Chair 

While the NASIG Database & Directory Committee works to maintain the details of NASIG’s membership, it has undergone some changes to its membership as well.  Smita Joshipura took time off to visit family and friends in her homeland of India in July and August.  The committee was glad to see her back safe and sound (and refreshed for the upcoming NASIG renewal season!). 

Janet Chisman resigned from the committee earlier this summer.  Her valuable participation has been greatly appreciated and she will be missed.  Janet’s colleague at Washington State University, Greg Matthews, has volunteered to plug the gap. Greg, a NASIG member since 2005, joined the committee with the blessing of the NASIG Board and we are happy to have him aboard. 

And last but not least, there is a new addition to the family of D&D chair Buddy Pennington.  A healthy Luke Ryan was born on July 20th at 10:24 p.m.  Buddy and his wife, Nicole, are spending several weeks at home with the new arrival, Luke, and Luke’s big brother Aidan.  Buddy is planning to go back to work, more tired than ever, at the end of August.   

In the meantime, the co-chair of the committee, Lisa Blackwell, will be leading the way for the committee work.  Plans are underway to make NASIG renewals a completely electronic process.

DATABASE & DIRECTORY COMMITTEE
Jo McClamroch, Chair 

Committee Members:  Heather Cannon, Julie Kane, Daisy Cheng, Smita Joshipura, Buddy Pennington, Michele Seikel, Mircea Stefancu, Marty Gordon, Ann Ercelawn, Janet Chisman, Lisa Blackwell, Mary Page, Board Liaison. 

Members rotating off the Committee after the 2006 Annual Conference: Daisy Cheng, Smita Joshipura, Michele Seikel [?] 

Incoming Chair/Co-Chair for May 2006: Buddy Pennington, Lisa Blackwell
New Committee Members:  TBA

ACTIVITIES

The usual activities were accomplished and were, by and large, accomplished on schedule:

• Membership renewal notices printed and mailed in October 2005
• Renewals and new memberships processed by December 1, 2005 were eligible for ballots
• Mailing lists for ballots were prepared for the N&E Committee in January 2006
• Mailing lists for conference postcards for the PCC were discussed in February 2006
• Renewals and new memberships processed regularly throughout the year
• New members announced monthly on NASIG-L
• There was a great working relationship between D&D and Treasurer Robischon
• Regular updates sent to Newsletter for member title changes and position changes
• Regular updates sent to ECC for email changes for NASIG-L

Special activities/projects included:

• D&D prepared a retrospective compilation of members who had joined January – August 2005 who were then added to NASIG-L by ECC
• A monthly schedule was developed to create a report of new members for posting to NASIG-L. This task rotated between two D&D members
• Lots of consultation about purging membership database after May 2006 conference
• Provided statistical and other data to the new Membership Committee
• Consulted with PCC re mailings of postcards for the annual conference

NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERSHIPS

• For the 2006 membership year, there were 874 renewing members and 164 new members for a total active membership of 1,038.
• Reporting anecdotally, D&D received around 20 or so print renewal forms with notes from members that the increase in membership dues caused them not to renew

MEMBERSHIP PROFILE

Active Membership by Organization Type
April 28, 2006

Please note that there is a difference of 23 between the stats for active members (103 and stats for membership by type (1061).  The techno experts on D&D (Pennington and Blackwell) suspect it is some kind of coding error which we will eventually reconcile. 

The newly created Membership Committee had a few requests for statistical data.  Numeric data was easily compiled. That Committee also was looking for data about position titles which was not easily obtained.

EXPENSES
D&D Committee’s only expenses were for sending out the paper membership renewal form in October 2005.

PRINT DIRECTORY
At our 2004 Committee meeting at the Annual Conference in Milwaukee, it was the unanimous recommendation of the D&D Committee that the print Directory be discontinued.  The Board voted on our recommendation and the print Directory was officially discontinued in 2004/2005.  This category should be removed from future Annual Reports.

OTHER ISSUES
This was truly a transition year for D&D.  Ten new members came on to the Committee in May 2005 to join two returning members and the returning Chair.  Each member willingly jumped right into doing our work.  There was a shakedown training period in the fall of 2005 while everyone was getting familiar with the online membership database.  Members provided constant feedback and questions and our overall processes were improved as a result.  I will prepare a separate report addressed specifically to the incoming Chair and Co-Chair which will outline specific recommendations for the 2006-2007 committee. 

For consideration at the Board level, here are some policy issues that were discussed by D&D: 

• The NASIG membership is ten times the size now as it was in its founding.  In general, D&D members believe that all processes and procedures need examination and evaluation in light of that growth.  For example,
  • What is the purpose of announcing all new NASIG members to NASIG-L?  It requires much choreography within and between committees and we ask the Board to reconsider its usefulness.
  • What is the purpose of continuing to prepare and mail paper renewal forms when we are moving to an online-only process for conference registration?
  • Why do both the ECC and D&D send “welcome to NASIG” messages to new members?
  • How do we address the issue of former dues-paying members who have not have been removed from the Membership Directory?   Is it truly a big issue?
  • Is it necessary or valuable to list all title and position changes in the Newsletter?
• What is the proper role of the Chair of D&D in 2006 and beyond? 

With the launch of the online membership database, the Chair no longer has to do all the data entry.  Even at that, I spent a minimum of eight to ten hours per week on D&D business – training D&D members and answering their questions about data entry in the membership database; problem-solving Directory errors; answering routine queries about how to connect to members-only area of NASIGWeb, and the like.   

My personal observation is that NASIG is no longer a mom-and-pop operation and internal organizational and procedural changes may be in order.  As Chair of D&D, I ask that the Board consider funding temporary clerical assistance for D&D, for the Treasurer, and perhaps for other Committees as well. While we are all eager volunteers, we also have full time professional careers. 

I would like to thank the NASIG Board of Directors for giving me the opportunity to serve as Chair of the Database & Directory Committee for 2005-2006.  I know the Board joins me in applauding the tireless efforts of each member of the D&D Committee over the past year.